One Day 56

Posted by AdminM, ? Views, Released on May 11, 2025

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Chapter Fifty–six

Kyle’s POV

Hospitals were never a place to be. However, the last time I was here, there was hope, and I didn’t feel alone ! was surrounded by people who loved me. Ava had stayed up late every night, her hand gripping mine even when I was both conscious and unconscious, whispering prayers into the antiseptic air.

Now, I felt alone.

Sure, my mother was here. Lillian, too, who stood stiffly across the room, just beside the window, with her arms crossed like she was ready for a fight. But their presence only made me feel worse than I already was.

“Kyle…” my mom called out again.

“I said what I said,” I replied flatly, already feeling exhausted by the long talks. “I won’t steal a young child’s health to buy mine. We’ll try another donor. Or whatever option comes next.”

The room stayed quiet for only a few seconds before my mother said in a calm but cracked voice. “You’re being ridiculous, right? Because all you just spat is nonsense. Nonsense!” she snapped, and I winced. “Don’t you hear what the doctor said? You’re dying!”

“It’s not nonsense,” I shot back. “I heard what he said, and I’ve already made up my mind.”

Although the doctor had explained that it wasn’t risky, that it was just a procedure where the donor takes medication for a few days to release stem cells from the bone marrow into the bloodstream, and then blood is drawn from one arm, passed through a machine that collects the stem cells, and the rest is returned through the other arm, it still wasn’t reassuring. I don’t want a recurrence of something bad. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.

“Don’t be stupid, Kyle!” my mother snapped, walking closer to the bed. “This isn’t a fever you can sleep off. This isn’t something you wait out. This is something serious, and you don’t get to be stubborn. Especially not

now.”

Even Lillian shifted in her position in the room, her brows pulling together as she locked her eyes on me. Although she looked calm, she also looked like she expected me to plead with her, maybe beg her for her permission. When I didn’t, she looked… offended.

That’s fresh.

“I know what it is,” I said, my voice still calm but tinged with exhaustion. “But I’m not putting my child at risk

won’t do it.”

“There is no risk! The doctor just explained…”

“My decision is final, Ma! You can’t change my mind.”

I’m not going to make the same mistakes twice.

She fell silent, staring at me like she couldn’t believe what I just said.

Dr. Deen cleared his throat awkwardly at the foot of my bed. “Kyle, I know you’re trying to be careful, which is understandable, but I need to be very clear with you. This isn’t something mild. Your Aplastic Anemia is progressing quickly. It’s not the early stages anymore. Your bone marrow is almost completely failing to

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Chapter Fifty ex

produce new cells. If we don’t act now, this could become fatal in a matter of weeks. If your son’s safety is

what’s holding you back, then I assure you, it is going to be a safe transplant.”

I won’t lie that his words didn’t scare me. The jolt in my heart was proof of that. But I had already made my decision. I won’t hurt my child. Even though he just explained it wasn’t a risky transplant, I still prefer a willing donor, not a one–year–old. Even thinking about the small discomfort he might feel afterwards is unsettling

“I understand,” I said quietly. “But isn’t there an option for a donor outside of family? A match from the

database?”

The doctor blinked. He looked like he just wanted to get this over with. I didn’t blame him, I felt the same way. “We can search, yes. But time is against us, Statistically, it could take weeks or months to find a viable match, if one even exists. That’s why we’re recommending your child. His age, genetic closeness, it’s ideal

and perfect.”

“No,” I repeated. “Find someone else. Run the search. I’ll wait.”

A harsh sob echoed from beside me. It was my mother. I clenched my jaw, forcing down the guilt weighing on my heart. This is my decision, and it’s final. I’m doing it for myself and my son, not for any of them.

“This is nonsense,” my mom hissed. “You’re going to die just to avoid hurting feelings? Fine! Then I’ll do it,” she added suddenly, stepping forward. “I don’t care if I’m old. I don’t care what the risks are. If it’s between you living and me dying, then take what you need.”

“That is…” Dr. Deen started, but I cut in.

“You’re not a match, Mom, and nobody is dying” I said, looking at her, exasperated.

“They haven’t even checked!”

Oh God.

“Because they know,” I said, letting my head fall back against the pillow. “Dr. Deen explained just a few minutes ago why you can’t be a match. It wouldn’t even help.”

He had explained that they ruled out my parents not just because of their age, but because as we get older, our bone marrow naturally slows down. Their stem cells aren’t particularly healthy, and in some cases, they may even carry genetic mutations or have a weaker immune profile. Using their cells could increase the risk of transplant failure or complications.

“And you dying is better?” she shouted, her voice cracking again. “I’m your mother, and I’m supposed to just sit through it all?”

I clenched my jaw.

“I’ve made my choice, Ma.”

She tried to argue again, but I tuned her out immediately.

“I’m not discussing this anymore,” I said, pushing on the bed panel and turning to my side, away from them, just as it was moving down, while I faced the sterile wall like it had answers I didn’t.

The room fell into silence again. But not f

Added to the library

I heard the shuffle of the doctor leaving quietly, and a second later, the tension snapped like an overstretched rubber band.

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Chapter Fifty–six

“This is your fault!” I heard my mother accuse Lillian. “All of it. If you hadn’t said what you said, if you weren’t so selfish, we wouldn’t even be here arguing! It would’ve gone differently if you had said yes the moment the doctor asked. His treatment would have been finalized!”

I heard Lillian scoff before she responded in a calm but cold voice. “You’re seriously blaming me when all I’m doing is protecting my son the same way you are protecting yours? Is that a sin?”

“Yes!” Regina barked. “Neo is Kyle’s son, too, not just yours. And that means you should have offered, no, you should have insisted on helping like a real wife. A real wife would do anything to save her husband”

“Oh, really?” Lillian hissed in a mocking tone, then made a sharp ptt! sound “Let’s not pretend I and Kyle have a husband–and–wife relationship. You and I both know we don’t. And you only care when Kyle’s life is at stake.

The rest of the time, I’m just…”

They went on, hurling insults back and forth, ripping into each other like hungry wolves fighting over scraps

of meat.

But I’d stopped listening long ago.

I drifted somewhere else entirely. Somewhere distant.

Somewhere that led back to Ava.

God, I missed her.

Not the way you miss a memory. I missed her like a limb, like an organ ripped out of me. Like she had been air itself, and I’d been holding my breath since she left.

Maybe this was punishment for betraying and hurting her. For destroying her trust. For shattering everything

she gave me.

Maybe this was the price I had to pay.

I deserved it. Every damn drop of it. But if this was my punishment… do I deserve to see her one more time? To apologise, or just to be in her presence in this dark moment?

I unlocked my phone, hesitated for half a second, then pulled up the contact I hadn’t dared message in

months.

Ava.

Her name popped up on the screen, bold and daring.

I’d had her number for a while. It had been in her profile when I secretly hired her. I had the contact on before that, but I hadn’t dared to reach out, even when it killed me to. Not until now.

My hands trembled as I typed:

Ava. I know I don’t deserve your time, but… can I see you and Zareon?

Then I added another line:

Just once.

I cringed at how stupid and cringy it sounded. Maybe I should’ve started with a hello, or something more like a greeting… or an apology?

f**k.

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My fingers hovered over the text, ready to delete it, but to my surprise, not only had she read it, her response came immediately. As if she knew I’d reach out today.

Ava: Your mother called me and my son a liar. If that’s the family he’s walking into, then no, we’d better stay out of

it.

I froze.

What?

My chest tightened as I reread the words. Over and over.

How? When?

No. No, my mother wouldn’t. That can’t be possible.

My hands were already clenched when I sat up, my fingers curling around the railing of the hospital bed as I called out, harshly;

“Mom!”

Both women stopped arguing mid–shout, startled.

“Did… did you call Ava?” I asked, my voice harsh.

She blinked. “What?”

“Did. You. Call. Ava?”

Her lips parted, then closed again. Confusion flickered across her face, then something else. Something like guilt.

“She said I did?” she asked.

“Oh my God!” My head dropped into my hands and then snapped up immediately in anger. “You did?” I barked. “You called her to stay away from me?”

Regina’s face hardened. “I was protecting you.”

My head pounded with rage at that, my eyes blazing. She must’ve seen it, because she quickly added: “Listen, Kyle. Think about it carefully. You were married to her for six years, and she couldn’t conceive! But suddenly, after leaving you, she gives birth? That’s not suspicious to you?! You don’t see how you’re being manipulated?”

My vision blurred. Rage rushed through me, hot and suffocating, like water boiling past 100 degre The monitor beside me began to beep faster and faster, in sync with my rising heart rate.

“You think I’m being manipulated?” I growled.

“Yes,” she nodded. “She’s trying to trap you!”

isius.

“And who are you to decide that!” I exploded. “You don’t get to run my life, Mom! Haven’t you done enough?! You destroyed the one good thing I had, and now you’re doing it again?”

She flinched, genuinely shocked by the rage in my voice.

“I told you to stop meddling! I told you several times to stay out of my business. How many times do I have to scream in your face before you get that?!”